The present invention generally relates to personal viewers, such as head-mounted displays and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a personal viewer in the form of a head-mounted display wherein images are scanned onto and reflected from ellipsoidal reflectors positioned in front of the user's eye such that the images are focused onto the eye of the user.
The use of personal viewers for viewing images has largely been relegated to the realm of science fiction. Attempts have been made to provide personal viewing systems, with limited results. For example, Spooner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,878 teaches scanning a raster image first, into two fiber optic ribbons and second, onto a large diffuse reflective screen for observation by a user from a comfortable distance. However, the size and distance of the screen do not permit movement with the user in any practical sense and since the same image is perceived by both of the user's eyes, no stereo viewing is possible.
In another example, Ansley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,492 teaches a optical fiber ribbon, whose input may be a point source scanned at high-speed or multiple sources operating in parallel, to provide one dimension of the displayed image. The second dimension is produced by scanning (or oscillating) the ribbon orthogonal to the first dimension while varying the fiber inputs in accordance with the image content and scan phase. However, while this provides a satisfactory two-dimensional image for display, it must then pass through projection optics onto a viewing screen for observation. The scanning and projection systems are separated and the same screen is seen by both eyes, excluding the presentation of stereo images.
While methods such as those described above may provide means of viewing an image, such methods lack a wide-field, high resolution, low cost, full color, stereo, see-through image display. Accordingly, there is a need for a wide-field, high resolution, low cost, full color, stereo, see-through image display well suited to a wide variety of uses. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.